Mediumistic Auto-suggestion
Other authorities have pointed out the fact that in some cases hypnotism
has resulted in a sort of pseudo-mediumship, or bogus mediumship, in
which the control is not that of a real spirit, but is merely the result
of the suggestion of the hypnotizer, or else the auto-suggestion of the
would-be medium himself. A writer on the subject has said of this: "In
too many cases, only the power of auto-hypnotism is manifested, and we
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have obsession, fraud and folly as the result. There is one sure method
of detecting the auto-hypnotic trance, and showing the difference
between that and the genuine spirit trance. Any competent magnetist or
hypnotiser can throw off the spell in all cases of self-induced trance,
unless it has reached the condition of complete catalepsy. But if a
spirit has induced the trance and controls the medium, it will laugh at
the hypnotist's efforts to restore him to the ordinary condition. The
most unfortunate feature of this sorry business is that the poor subject
is self-deceived, and imagines that he is a full-fledged medium; and
when he has made some terrible break on the platform or elsewhere he
shields himself by laying all the responsibility upon some supposed
spirit guide."